Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Jokes that cross cultural boundaries

Apparently it is difficult to make jokes in two culture at the same time. Here's the situation. I am giving presentation in Indonesia but the language is in English. The audience is a mix of Indonesians and non-Indonesians, who don't speak Bahasa Indonesia. The majority of the audience is Indonesians. Now, the question is should I make Indonesians jokes or English jokes? They are different.

I watch stand-up commedy on TV when I have the time. There's not that many stand-up commedy (commedians) in Indonesia. Usually I watch them on Tonight's Show with Jay Leno. Sometimes he commedians as the guest. Most of their jokes are American jokes. Sometimes I don't understand the joke because they are so tight to events that happened in the US (which I don't know - I don't watch CNN that often), or to characteristics of places and people in certain region in the US.

Any suggestion of jokes that cross cultural boundaries? (Gotta be in English though.) Commedian handbook?

sometimes Indonesian jokes can be translated into english in a certain way and still made my office mates laugh.(not just about sex, but most of the time, sex-related jokes are funnier. no boundaries. basic human needs)

still, not all english-spoken jokes can be clearly interpreted by us, indonesian.

but if your 'gig' is about technology, think there are lotsa jokes about it.

ive friends that got married lately... so this joke worked well:

Marriage requires a man to prepare 3 types of "rings":* The Engagement Ring* The Wedding Ring* The Suffe-Ring

enoyingmous, i don't have the proper gears to start video blogging. even my digital camera is usually just a cellphone. maybe, when i get tha proper video gears, i'll start video blogging and post to youtube.com.